Best Leopard Features
I've read through the entire list of 300+ new features in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, the new version of the Mac operating system that will arrive next Friday, and I've picked out my choices of the best among them that will be most useful to me. In their order of appearance on Apple's page (alphabetical by category/application):
1. Automator — UI Recording and Playback
Add even more capabilities to your workflows. Use a new action called Watch Me Do that lets you record a user action (like pressing a button or controlling an application without built-in Automator support) and replay as an action in a workflow.
2. Dashboard — Web Clip
Clip out any portion of a web page and turn it into a Dashboard widget. Just click the new Web Clip icon in Safari and select the portion of the page you want, then click Add to see your Dashboard spring to life with a brand-new widget. The widget is “live” and will update as its page of origin does. You can even customize your widget’s frame.
3. Desktop — Spring-Loaded Dock
Items in the Dock are spring-loaded. Just drag a file, hover over any application in the Dock, and press the Space bar — the application opens instantly. For example, to add a picture to your iPhoto library, just drag the image file and hover over the iPhoto icon in the Dock. Press the Space bar, and once iPhoto opens, you can drag the image into your iPhoto library. If you drag a file and hover over a stack, pressing the Space bar opens a Finder window showing the contents of the stack.
4. DVD Player — Scratched Disc Recovery
Smoothly play back even DVDs that may be damaged. New technology in Leopard can locate and avoid scratched areas of the disc.
5. Mail — To-Dos
Create to-do items directly from email messages or notes in Mail. Simply highlight text in an email, then click the To Do button to create a to-do from a message.
6. Networking — Self-Tuning TCP
Let Leopard adjust TCP buffer size automatically. Get optimum application performance, especially in high-bandwidth/high-latency environments.
7. Preview — PDF Manipulation
Re-create your PDF as you like. Move individual pages around, or remove pages altogether. You can even combine PDFs with a simple drag and drop. [Eliminates need for Combine PDFs app.]
8. Printing — Printer Drivers via Software Update
Make sure you always have the latest printer drivers. Download directly to your system using the familiar capabilities of Software Update.
9. Quick Look
Look inside any document without launching an application. Use Quick Look with documents, images, songs, and movies and get a large-size preview of the file. Flip through multipage documents, preview movies, even add images to Photo. You can use Quick Look in Finder, Mail, and Time Machine.
10. Spaces
Organize your activities into separate spaces and easily switch from one to another. Make a space for work or play. Choose from a number of convenient options that make moving from space to space fast and easy.
11. System — Live Partition Resizing in Disk Utility
You may be able to gain disk space without losing data. If a volume is running out of space, simply delete the volume that comes after it on the disk and move the volume’s end point into the freed space.
12. System — Guest Log-in Accounts
Allow anyone to surf the web and check email as a guest on your Mac. When they log out of the guest account, Mac OS X purges the account, removing any trace of their activity. So each time someone logs in as a guest, he or she gets a fresh, unused account.
13. System Preferences — Advanced Account Options
Make changes to the user ID, login shell, and home directory for any account. Just hold down the Control key and click an account in the Accounts pane of System Preferences. [No longer a risky process requiring third-party Change Short Name utility.]
14. TextEdit — Autosave
Ensure that your edits aren’t lost. Have TextEdit automatically save copies of your document at a specified time interval.
15. Time Machine — Back Up Everything
Automatic backup, built right into your Mac. Never worry about losing a file again. Time Machine stores an up-to-date copy of all your Mac’s files on an external hard drive, personal file sharing volume, or Mac OS X Server. That includes system files, applications, accounts, preferences, music, photos, movies, and documents.
16. UNIX — Wide Area Bonjour
Access your Macs, at home or on the road, with a single consistent host name. Use this host name whether you’re behind a NAT gateway or hopping across DHCP servers. [Eliminates need for DynDNS utility.]
1. Automator — UI Recording and Playback
Add even more capabilities to your workflows. Use a new action called Watch Me Do that lets you record a user action (like pressing a button or controlling an application without built-in Automator support) and replay as an action in a workflow.
2. Dashboard — Web Clip
Clip out any portion of a web page and turn it into a Dashboard widget. Just click the new Web Clip icon in Safari and select the portion of the page you want, then click Add to see your Dashboard spring to life with a brand-new widget. The widget is “live” and will update as its page of origin does. You can even customize your widget’s frame.
3. Desktop — Spring-Loaded Dock
Items in the Dock are spring-loaded. Just drag a file, hover over any application in the Dock, and press the Space bar — the application opens instantly. For example, to add a picture to your iPhoto library, just drag the image file and hover over the iPhoto icon in the Dock. Press the Space bar, and once iPhoto opens, you can drag the image into your iPhoto library. If you drag a file and hover over a stack, pressing the Space bar opens a Finder window showing the contents of the stack.
4. DVD Player — Scratched Disc Recovery
Smoothly play back even DVDs that may be damaged. New technology in Leopard can locate and avoid scratched areas of the disc.
5. Mail — To-Dos
Create to-do items directly from email messages or notes in Mail. Simply highlight text in an email, then click the To Do button to create a to-do from a message.
6. Networking — Self-Tuning TCP
Let Leopard adjust TCP buffer size automatically. Get optimum application performance, especially in high-bandwidth/high-latency environments.
7. Preview — PDF Manipulation
Re-create your PDF as you like. Move individual pages around, or remove pages altogether. You can even combine PDFs with a simple drag and drop. [Eliminates need for Combine PDFs app.]
8. Printing — Printer Drivers via Software Update
Make sure you always have the latest printer drivers. Download directly to your system using the familiar capabilities of Software Update.
9. Quick Look
Look inside any document without launching an application. Use Quick Look with documents, images, songs, and movies and get a large-size preview of the file. Flip through multipage documents, preview movies, even add images to Photo. You can use Quick Look in Finder, Mail, and Time Machine.
10. Spaces
Organize your activities into separate spaces and easily switch from one to another. Make a space for work or play. Choose from a number of convenient options that make moving from space to space fast and easy.
11. System — Live Partition Resizing in Disk Utility
You may be able to gain disk space without losing data. If a volume is running out of space, simply delete the volume that comes after it on the disk and move the volume’s end point into the freed space.
12. System — Guest Log-in Accounts
Allow anyone to surf the web and check email as a guest on your Mac. When they log out of the guest account, Mac OS X purges the account, removing any trace of their activity. So each time someone logs in as a guest, he or she gets a fresh, unused account.
13. System Preferences — Advanced Account Options
Make changes to the user ID, login shell, and home directory for any account. Just hold down the Control key and click an account in the Accounts pane of System Preferences. [No longer a risky process requiring third-party Change Short Name utility.]
14. TextEdit — Autosave
Ensure that your edits aren’t lost. Have TextEdit automatically save copies of your document at a specified time interval.
15. Time Machine — Back Up Everything
Automatic backup, built right into your Mac. Never worry about losing a file again. Time Machine stores an up-to-date copy of all your Mac’s files on an external hard drive, personal file sharing volume, or Mac OS X Server. That includes system files, applications, accounts, preferences, music, photos, movies, and documents.
16. UNIX — Wide Area Bonjour
Access your Macs, at home or on the road, with a single consistent host name. Use this host name whether you’re behind a NAT gateway or hopping across DHCP servers. [Eliminates need for DynDNS utility.]
posted by Ben @ 1:05 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
As a new Mac user and a pretty sick one at that (hence not having a ton of time to bond with my Mac), Most of your post went above my head. But I did try to look through some of the features. So far the most exciting for me (I'm sure you can convince me otherwise):
DVD scratch recovery, folder sharing capability, Ical being much easier to schedule and make todo lists, some of the ichat stuff (for the once in a blue moon times I use it), Location Aware Printing,Guest Log-in accounts, Hot corner for sleep, Time Machine (once we buy me a new external hard drive seeing have my PC has killed both of its 2 hard drives)
Ok, maybe I am a little excited about the upgrade now.
Post a Comment
<< Home